MUMBAI: Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline, today announced the planned induction of five new state-of-the-art ATR 72-600 series aircraft into their fleet. The ATR 72-600 series will commence their flight between December 2012 and March 2013. The ATR 72- 600 series aircraft comes equipped with the latest avionics technology and will operate on the airline’s domestic network.

The new ATR 72-600 series ATR aircraft, will seat 68 passengers in an all economy layout and is ideally suited for operations in the regional transportation market. It will provide an enhanced connectivity into the Tier II and III cities & towns across the length and breadth of India.

These aircraft come powered by a new Pratt & Whitney PW127M multi-rated engine, which aids the aircrafts take off from short runways with increased payload. Guests will also be able to travel in complete comfort given that the new aircraft benefits from the widest cabin in the turboprop market, providing maximum space for passengers and also offering more baggage room. The ceiling and cabin side panels have been reshaped and designed to offer passengers more space and light creating a harmonious and balanced environment making travelling a more pleasurable experience.

Sudheer Raghavan, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways, said, “The induction of the new, state-of-the-art ATR 72-600 aircraft bears further testimony to our commitment to providing our guests with an enriched and luxurious flying experience utilising the very latest technology. Importantly, the ATR 600 series bring some new operational capabilities to the airline by being the most economical aircraft to fly. The aircraft’s redesigned cabin will allow us to afford our guests complete comfort and its outstanding performance at take-off on short runways with increased payloads thus allowing the airline to optimize its operations in key regional markets.

All of this will pave the way for Jet Airways to expand its regional domestic network into more Tier II and III towns and cities across India.”

The Franco-Italian ATR (Avions de Transport Régional) aircraft series is among the largest and most successful of the modern turboprop airliners currently flying the world's commuter routes. The ATR family employs state-of-the-art advanced EFIS (Electronic Flight Instrument System) technology and they also come equipped with FMS (Flight Management System) technology that can be programmed to fly each flight segment and manage the aircraft's fuel for the best possible economy.

Compared to the ATR 72-500, which uses 50 per cent analog and 50 per cent digital instruments, the ATR 72 -600 series, with a glass cockpit, enjoys latest innovations in the cockpit with simplified, integrated LCD advanced functions, enhancing reliability and safety, improved handling for pilots and maintenance cost savings. The cockpit has two Primary Flight Displays, two multi-function displays and an engine warning display, which means 100 per cent digitization in the cockpit instrumentation.

The Electronic check lists mean a paperless cockpit, replacing the current paper-based documents. Pilots will have at their fingertips moving maps, graphical weather forecasts, terrain mapping and a variety of aviation data and function avionics display units are similar to those features in the Airbus 380 aircraft. First of its kind would be positioned to Mumbai to commence operating on the following routes which are currently being operated on 62 seater ATR aircraft.

Flight No.

Frequency

Origin

Departure Time

Destination

Arrival Time

9W 2535

Daily

Mumbai

Bhuj

0705 hrs

0850 hrs

9W 2536

Daily

Bhuj

Mumbai

0950 hrs

1135 hrs

9W 2500

Daily

Mumbai

Diu

1300 hrs

1405 hrs

9W 2500

Daily

Diu

Porbandar

1435 hrs

1520 hrs

9W 2500

Daily

Porbandar

Mumbai

1550 hrs

1720 hrs

9W 2073

Daily

Mumbai

Udaipur

1755 hrs

1945 hrs

9W 2074

Daily

Udaipur

Mumbai

2015 hrs

2205 hrs

Jet Airways has a total of 107 commanders and 114 first officers for the ATR fleet out of which presently, 55 pilots are undergoing training on this new aircraft.